Almost all internet sites dealing with mortgages include some sort of mortgage calculator tools. This is simply because mortgages are pretty complicated, and it’s nice to know what you’ll ultimately be spending.
Most sites offer at least two types of mortgage calculator:
How much can you borrow: based on your income, job status and outgoings, how much could you be lent?
What will your repayments be: based on the property you wish to buy and the term of the loan, what will your monthly repayments be?
The thing to remember here is that the scope of these calculators changes depending on whose you use. On lenders’ sites, they will be restricted to calculations based on the products that lender sells. On independent sites (Moneyextra or Ashley Law for example), you’ll get a more realistic barometer of spending across a greater range of products.
Some other sites offer more than the basic two mortgage calculator tools- here are some worth checking out:
Chase de Vere has a nifty chart which will show you how the outstanding balance on a repayment mortgage decreases- it’s quite a lesson to see how little you pay off in the first five years, and how conversely how much of the balance is left until the end of the term.
The Alliance and Leicester has a great tool which goes beyond a basic mortgage calculator by calculating the real cost of moving- including everything from solicitors’ fees to mail forwarding. If you’re selling as well as buying, the system will tot that up too. It’s a useful, if off-putting, extra service.
Finally, if you’re just not sure what sort of product will suit you, try Charcol Online’s suitability questionnaire- it will only recommend their products, but you’ll get an idea of what type of mortgage would best match your needs even if you plan to buy from elsewhere.
